Going Paperless

Acknowledging the advantages of paperless rather than paper-based operation, it should be realized that the benefit of a paperless operation can only be truly exploited through top-down planning, similar to the concept of BPR. An operation going paperless needs to map what the workflow is, what papers are created and how they interact. Like a BPR project, this needs to be addressed by a cross-functional effort mapping the present situation, the envisioned future and the steps to be followed to get there. 

During paper-wall sessions, the existing work and document flow can be changed to take advantage of options made available through a paperless operation. Although individual processes may be optimized, the main outcome 

Paper walling is only one method among many available, but it cannot stand alone. The operation of an existing as well as a streamlined operation may be illustrated in many ways, inspired by formalized information and logistic architecture methods. The main objective of ensuring a lean and streamlined operation will have to be translated into system requirements and in turn a system design that enables the actual system to be built. A key success criterion is how well the outcome in the computer system design reflects a user-friendly and streamlined flow of operation and information in the paperless facility. 

The change from paper-based operations to paperless operations may have more advantages than are immediately apparent. Computers provide an interactive medium that provides a fundamentally different way of working than the passive medium of paper. They can respond back on data entries, guide the operator and ensure d5mamic updates with up-to-date information throughout the company. 

Furthermore, computers have now become a much more rich medium than paper ever was. Within the last 10 years of development of the Graphical User Interface (GUI), the technology has evolved from a mere what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) concept into an intelligent and multimedia-based environment. Today s computer systems can replace papers in the streamlined operation and incorporate a much more functional and intuitive way of describing process activities and outputs. A rapid development of standard systems interfaces, including Web technology, has enabled systems to contain more automatic updates and much more intuitive information access methods than the paper-based medium ever could. 

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Is There a True Management Commitment to Going Paperless ... 

What makes companies go for paperless operations Paper is one of the most important cornerstones in the pharmaceutical industry today for several reasons. 

Paperless operations may be handled in many different ways. These differ by the level of ambitions of the system and by the intelligence put into the computer system. The decisions on how far to go may be helped by a simple and pragmatic categorization of four main levels of the paperless operation. 

Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) have been subject to considerable hype on their potential for paperless production, yet these systems have proven to be some of the most difficult to use in the pharmaceutical industry. So far, only a few suppliers have been able to deliver their customer s expectations beyond initial pilot installations, and many MES implementations hardly go further than the "active paper on glass" functionality described earlier. 

It became a key success criterion for the project that all computer systems and utilities were in place at the point in time where equipment was delivered on-site. The aim, which was successfully achieved, was to ensure that the plant would go into production with fully functional and validated systems from the beginning in order to avoid the tedious job of implementing the paperless concepts after production had started. 

A high level of paperless operation is not easy to implement, and this makes it very important to have clear step decisions on "how much is enough—at least for now", because achieving the ultimate paperless goal is going to be a long journey. 

However, in about 2005, operators at Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant began to notice problems with one particular make of paperless chart recorder. They began to go to sleep or require constant re-booting. 

Remember when computers were going to make offices paperless Around that same time, the powers that be decided America would henceforth specialize in producing information workers. Nobody would need to dirty their hands with machinery and grease when technology was the name of the game. 

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